FDA: Don't Eat Monkfish -- Three guesses where it's from!

[tblue]

Yep. China.

FDA: Don't Eat Monkfish
FDA Warns of Potentially Lethal Imported Puffer Fish Mislabeled as Monkfish

By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

May 25, 2007 -- The FDA today warned consumers not to buy or eat monkfish because it may actually be puffer fish containing a potentially lethal toxin called tetrodotoxin.

The FDA's warning comes after two people in the Chicago area became ill after eating homemade soup containing the mislabeled monkfish. One of those people was hospitalized due to severe illness, says the FDA.

The FDA analyzed the fish and confirmed the presence of potentially life-threatening levels of tetrodotoxin, which isn't found in real monkfish.

If you've already got monkfish in your freezer or refrigerator, throw it out, says the FDA. Tetrodotoxin isn't destroyed by cooking, freezing, or other common methods of food preparation.

The FDA says the mislabeled fish were imported from China by Hong Chang Corp. of Santa Fe Springs, Calif.

Consumers concerned that they may have purchased this fish should contact their retailer and ask if the product was received from Hong Chang Corp.

The FDA allows puffer fish to be imported into the U.S. only under strict provisions that minimize the risk of the toxin being present in the fish. The recalled fish were not in compliance with those provisions.

The FDA says it's examining all imports from the Chinese supplier and will take additional action, if warranted.

http://www.webmd.com/news/20070525/fda-dont-eat-monkfish?ecd=wnl_din_052807

[AndyA]

1. Does China allow its own people to eat this shit, or do they just send all of their

garbage over here for us to eat?

[Warpy]

6. Their head food inspector has just been sentenced

to be executed for taking bribes and kickbacks.

They are going to have to clean up their act fast and not by scapegoating one corrupt official.

[AndyA]

7. That's just awful.

I don't understand how a person charged with protecting the public could allow so many people to be at risk. All for a lousy kickback.

Now that you mention it, I do remember reading about this. I think the FDA needs to step in, do the responsible thing, and BAN all food imports from China until the safety of those items can be determined.

[benddem]

8. You forget

the FDA was essentially decapitated by the Reagan administration.

[Systematic Chaos]

2. Did it come from Uranus?

:evilgrin:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. Not Defective Monk from San Fran?

OK, thanks for the 'eads up.

[Kber]

4. and the first two guesses don't count.

[Warpy]

5. The problem with monkfish is that they're so butt ugly

that they chop the heads off 'em right there in the boats. I used to buy my fish right off the boat to get it as fresh as possible, and I never saw a monkfish with the head on.

They're miserable to clean and miserable to skin and the bones are huge. Monkfish makes a great poor man's lobster, though. The texture of the cooked meat will fool everybody.

I now live in NM, so fish is off the menu. I'm grateful now.

[Igel]

9. You mean this?

Bleah.

[Warpy]

11. Blech

See what I mean? Even their mothers don't love them.

[tblue]

13. Yeah. Once you've seen it, you can't imagine eating it. Didn't it used to be called something else?

[Warpy]

14. There are a lot of regional names for the ugly suckers

Goosefish is the one I've heard most often.

[blueworld]

10. I lost 11 pounds already

Don't eat Monkfish, tuna, swordfish, shrimp with melamine, mad-cow beef, e-coli spinach, salmonella peanut butter. I can't even eat the damned dog food anymore.

[tblue]

12. LOL! Sad but LOL just the same.